


One in a Million

by OldManAndKid



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Blood, Blood and Gore, DMC5 doesn't exist, Demon Hunters, Developing Relationship, Devil May Cry 4 Dante/Nero, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Incest, M/M, Post-Devil May Cry 4, Romance, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Stabbing, Uncle/Nephew Incest, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:06:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24047896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldManAndKid/pseuds/OldManAndKid
Summary: Dante and Nero meet again after Nero is exiled from Fortuna for being a danger to its people. Nero and Kyrie put their relationship aside and Nero decides to find the one person who is just like himself and can potentially help him out, Dante. Dante x Nero.
Relationships: Dante/Nero (Devil May Cry)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 64





	1. How is has to be

It has been a couple of months since the whole Savior incident. Fortuna still bore the look of a city trashed not too long ago. Even though Nero has been living with Kyrie ever since, he couldn't quite forget that day. It was, after all, the day his life had changed. It was the day Credo died, the day he found out he has Sparda's blood running through his veins, the day Fortuna got raided and destroyed by countless demons and most importantly, it was the day he met him. The only other person he knew who was like him – Dante.  
He thought about him sometimes. A lot, actually. He just felt like he finally found what he's been looking for, someone who made him feel like he fit in. But he refused to admit any of this. Still, he knew he could count on Dante in a time of crisis again. And a crisis was exactly what he was going through at that time.

Nero thought that, after all, he had done for the city and its people, he would be praised for what he did to save everyone's lives. Well, at least a little 'thank you' wouldn't hurt, or so he thought. The people knew Nero was a member of The Order. They also knew he was a jackass, a hothead and a punk who didn't particularly care about the one thing they all hold dear in that god damn city – their religion. As all the people except a few were evacuated during the entire 'apocalypse' thing, they didn't get to see who truly saved the city from becoming a hell hole. Most of them still called it a miracle, some claimed Sparda himself had returned to save all of their lives and the ones who knew The Order was behind it all still feared him, as he was one of them and must have been part of the destruction. And as a cherry on top, the word about Nero's right, demonic arm began to spread quickly. They called him a mutant, a hazard, a demon, an abomination. They didn't know of his good deeds or of his origin. If they did, they probably would have praised him. Instead, they feared him, hid from him, they wanted him gone. But the people weren't the only ones who wanted him out of their sight, or better yet, exiled.  
There were still members of The Order who survived and were part of Sanctus' plan. In their eyes, Nero betrayed them. He killed their leader, their members and he prevented the rise of the Savior. He was to be used for the greater good, but he refused to cooperate. They wanted him gone, but they still wanted to keep him alive as he was too valuable, considering he could be their source of Sparda's blood in the future.

Nero and Kyrie both left The Order soon after the incident and Kyrie supported that decision. Nero told her what they did to Credo, to their family and what they still had planned for the future. She understood, as she couldn't possibly be working with people who sacrificed her parents, killed her brother and wanted to use both her and Nero to bring all sorts of destruction upon Fortuna and its people. While she would no longer be associated with The Order, she would still be doing what she was before – helping the children at the orphanage and the people in need. They resigned and Nero decided to accept Kyrie's request to come stay with her on the outskirts of Fortuna. Before all of this, he was given a place to stay and enough money to get through the month in exchange for his service at The Order. Kyrie's place was the only place he knew he could go to after it all happened. Kyrie was, after all, the only friend and family in Fortuna he had left.

But it still wasn't the same as before. They had just evolved their relationship to a new level, and it was already falling apart. Nero did love her. He loved her very much. He was taken in by her family. He grew up with her, learned from her, admired her. But at the back of both of their minds, they were family who just lost a member. She was his big sister and Credo was the brother he always looked up to, even though they weren't related by blood. It wasn't easy. It wasn't the time for them to be anything more than the family they needed to be. Fortuna was only just recovering and they couldn't start a new life together because Kyrie wasn't prepared to leave the city and he was no longer able to take the weight. She knew the people of Fortuna and the orphans at the orphanage she helped at were too dependent on her. She meant too much to Fortuna to abandon it. Everyone viewed her as the hand they could rely on in need, she was the hope they all needed. But at the same time, everyone viewed Nero as their enemy. That's why Nero knew what was coming.

On a rainy evening, they got a knock on the door. As Kyrie opened it, two men in familiar outfits stood there. They demanded to speak to Nero. As Nero got to the door, he immediately knew what would happen. He knew the men, they used to be his partners on several patrols around town. They understood each other well, that's why they were chosen to deliver the news. Nero told Kyrie to wait inside while they spoke. They didn't exactly have much to talk about, so their chat was short.  
The men left and Nero walked back in again. He joined Kyrie by the window.

"I have to leave." He closed his eyes and pressed his human hand on his forehead. "I knew this was coming. It was a matter of time, wasn't it?"

Kyrie was looking at him with regret in her eyes. She took a deep breath and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"It's alright, Nero. We've talked about this… You staying here because you worried about me too much. But you don't have to anymore. I'm not as weak as I was before." She smiled, moved her hands on his back and gave him a soft embrace.  
"I'll be alright. I've shown them I'm not a threat. They won't come after me. I'm too valuable to the people." She looked back up at him, trying to make him lighten up with a soft smile.  
"This place is draining you, Nero. They won't understand. You need to go, you know where to go, I know you do. You've been prepared for weeks." She kissed his cheek and watched his expression. Nero gave her a long, strong embrace.

"If they touch a hair on you, I swear to god…" He said, letting go and looking her in the eye. "I'll come visit you. I'll get in, somehow. I don't know when, or how often, but I will. I promise." He gave her a soft smile and kissed her forehead.

She nodded in agreement, a look of sadness in her. "I know."

Nero walked over to the bag he had prepared weeks ago, knowing he would either leave on his own or wait to be exiled sooner or later. And it was finally happening. He started to wrap his hand in his usual bandage and glove as he didn't want his devil bringer to be showing outside the city, where people didn't see anything like this before. He put on his blue denim jacket, put Blue Rose into its holster, put the bag of his belongings over his shoulder and took Red Queen's case in his left hand.

Kyrie gave him one last hug at the door. "Call me when you can."

They shared a smile and Nero put his red hood on. "I will. Goodbye Kyrie. Take care of yourself, and… don't wait for me." He said and started making his way.  
Kyrie nodded. She understood exactly what Nero meant. "Goodbye, Nero." She said, standing at the open door with sadness in her eyes. They knew they wouldn't see each other again for a long time, but they knew it was for the best. And just like that, it started to rain even harder.


	2. Guess Who?

Dante has been driving for about an hour already. He was making his way back to the office from one of the harder missions he gets every now and then when hordes of demons decide to show up along with their boss. It's not like he wanted to take the job, he was downright forced to do it.

Lady came storming into Devil May Cry the previous night, waving the paper with the customer's information in his face.  
"Dante, seriously. Get off your ass and start taking some of these already. How do you expect to get paid if you don't do your damn job?" She slapped the paper on top of his desk.

Dante jumped up from his relaxed position in his chair, his eyes wide open. He put his hands in the air in a surrender pose.  
"Alright, jeez … Can't a guy get some time off around here?" He said, eyeing the paper lazily.

"It's a horde of basilisks, Dante. Their boss decided to join the party, too. I would if I could, but I can't take this one. I'm still only human, remember?" She folded her arms in front of her chest.  
"The number is too high. Plus, I've never encountered one of these moth-like demons before. Not going to risk it. I'd ask Trish to join, but she's already taking one of these out two towns over. You might want to leave first thing in the morning too unless you want everyone dead by the time you get your lazy ass over there?"

Dante rolled his eyes and laid back on his office chair, his legs crossed on the table.  
"Fine. I'll get it done. Just … go do whatever it is you do when you plant the hard ones on me."  
He closed his eyes, shooing her off with one hand, the other behind his head.

Lady shook her head and made her way outside. "See you when you get paid."

Dante couldn't quite sleep that night. He kept thinking about a particular someone too much. Not just that night either. He kept dozing off lately, thinking about what Nero's been up to after he left Fortuna. He hated that they parted the way they did. I mean, Nero even asked him if they'd meet again, but Dante was just too entitled to make a dramatic exit for them to actually exchange any contact information. He hated himself for it, but maybe it was for the best. He couldn't shake the thoughts, though.

'What's he doing? Is he still with that girl? Still killing demons? How did the people accept him? If he truly does have Sparda's blood, is he Vergil's son? Did Sparda have another son? No, Nero wasn't as strong. The old shithead said he was a descendant of Sparda's blood… and not quite in my league. Whatever the hell that means. He couldn't possibly be mine, could he? No. No way. When the hell did Vergil have the time to make a goddamn kid!? And him, of all people … It's hard to imagine. Scratch that, this isn't something ANYONE wants to imagine.'

He could feel a familiar aura around Nero, and he didn't exactly know if he should feel good or bad about it. The thoughts then led to Vergil and he ended up becoming genuinely upset. He kept going back and forth on these thoughts and by the time he snapped out of it, a couple of hours have passed.  
He shook his head and made his way to his bedroom upstairs, determined to at least try to get some actual sleep.

So earlier that day, though still tired as hell, he took off at the direction of the basilisk horde. He really wanted to take his bike for this one, he loved riding on long, straight roads when it came to distant missions. Tough luck, it has been raining for two days straight. He had no choice but to take the car. He didn't mind taking the car, but he preferred driving with the roof of his convertible open. It made him look twice as badass as he already was. No arguing there.

He got there in a couple of hours, took care of the horde of basilisks first and the larger moth-like demon after all the lesser demons were down. He didn't even work up a sweat with this one, he simply knew the location since the man explained it in good detail and figured a moth-like demon would be less powerful during the day as it would be at night.

"I didn't even have to figure this one's weakness out. Huh," he said, dusting off some of the dust the moth had blown his way as it blew up upon death.

He made his way to the car and started driving home. It was still raining heavily. The weather was expected for that time of the year, but he still hated rain. It just made long distance driving that much more boring.

He was driving down the road of a city in which he usually sells the unwanted devil arms he obtains on missions. The traffic was crazy, they were moving slowly down a one-way road. '

Next time, I'm taking the other road. To hell with this.' He was getting frustrated, leaning his head on his left hand. The rain had only just stopped a moment ago.

While looking at the people who were closing their umbrellas on the sidewalks to distract him from the traffic, he noticed something familiar. A familiar bright red hood and a long blue coat, just as familiar…

'Great. Not only in my dreams, I apparently also see him everywhere while I'm awake.'

He wanted to believe it was really him, but he couldn't see clearly because his red hood was covering his entire face, so Dante carefully drove up to him as the cars in front of him slowly moved forward. He wanted to see if he could get a glimpse of his right hand. If the kid's demonic arm was there, he would know it was Nero for sure.

Then, he noticed the sword case he was carrying in his left hand. It had The Order's sigil on it. Not just that, but the familiar rings Nero wears were enough for Dante to know it was him. His eyes widened, a grin on his lips. Oh, that was it. It was him, for sure. He could feel it, literally.

"Well, I'll be damned…" he said to himself, rolling down the window.  
"Hey, kid!"

Nero's eyes widened, looking at the direction of the familiar voice.  
"…What the-?" He said, stopping in surprise.

Dante threw him a grin, he was genuinely happy to see him again.  
"What the hell are you doing out here? You're soaked, get in!"  
Dante said it just loud enough for Nero to hear him, closing the window and opening the door for him to jump in.

Nero walked up to the car to close the door again, shaking his head.  
"I'm not getting in your car like this. Besides, I don't even know where I'm going yet, so…Thanks, anyway." Nero said, looking away and frowning a bit, wanting to close the door. Dante pushed the door out stronger, preventing Nero from closing in.

"Just get in, I don't care if you're wet. Come on, hurry up, I gotta move." He said with a reassuring look on his face, pointing his thumb at the car that was honking behind him.

Nero hesitated for a bit, not wanting to destroy Dante's car seats. He has been walking in the rain for more than a day and was clearly drenched to the bone.  
He shook his head mentally. It was Dante. He didn't really know where he was heading in the first place, but he knew he was going to find Dante eventually. He knew Dante would give him advice on where to go, or even offer him a place to stay. He helped him out before, he would do it again. So he threw his belongings at the back seat and jumped in at the passenger seat.

"There you go. Was that so hard?" Dante teased him with a big grin on his face.

Nero gave Dante a soft smile briefly but looked down quickly after.  
"Yeah, well, you insisted."  
He frowned, not really knowing what to say or do. He didn't really want to talk about Fortuna, but he knew he was going to have to explain why he was right there, in Dante's car, eventually.

Dante started driving as the road cleared again, but he still threw glances at Nero's direction.  
"Hey, lighten up, will ya?" He paused. "You look like hell." He said, not meaning his overall appearance, but the look on Nero's face.

Nero straightened his back and started taking off his soaking coat, placing it on the floor of the car.  
"Yeah… I just didn't wanna ruin your seat, that's all. Haven't slept in a few days either so, there's that."  
Nero ran a hand over his face.

Dante smirked. "I already told you, I don't give a damn about the seat getting wet. I mean it, stop worrying about it."  
He threw Nero a light smile and looked back at the road. He flicked on a turn signal.

"We'll stop here for a bit. Got any spare clothes in that bag? You must be uncomfortable in these." He said, parking the car at a diner parking area.

Nero nodded in Dante's direction.

"Alright then, get changed. Here, lock the car and meet me inside when you're done." Dante threw him the car keys and headed for the diner entrance.


	3. Taking Care

Nero hated thinking about it, but he really did feel warm inside. Dante had just picked him up and is already being way too kind for his own good.

'I've been a dick towards him 90% of the time, and he still treats me like I never jump-kicked his face. Or impaled him with his own damn sword. Or beat his face into oblivion.' He smiled.

He got into the back of the car and proceeded to get changed into a set of dry clothes from his travel bag. He had to change all of his clothes, as he was completely soaked through. He covered himself with his still wet coat and quickly changed his boxers, making sure nobody was in sight. He took out a black T-shirt, socks, a pair of jeans and put on a dry red hoodie, locked up and headed inside.

Dante was waiting for him inside. He was sitting at a table, talking to the waitress. As he saw Nero walk through the door and look inside to spot Dante, he raised a hand to signal to him where he was.  
Nero spotted him, walked over and sat down next to him.

"What do you wanna drink?" Dante asked, opening up the menu and glancing at it.

The waitress stood next to Dante, smiling at Nero softly, waiting for him to order.

Nero looked up at her.  
"Uh, a cup of coffee would be nice," he said, also taking a menu and looking at it himself.

Dante looked up at him, and then at the waitress.  
"Get him a beer as well."

Nero looked up from the menu.  
"That's fine, you don't have to, the coffee will do."

Dante threw a look at the waitress."Two beers and a coffee it is."

"Sure thing!" The waitress nodded and made her way to the bar.

Nero had an unsure look on his face.

"Hey. You doing alright?" Dante asked, seeing as Nero was a bit off.

"Yeah, I'm good, I just haven't eaten much and probably shouldn't have a beer on an empty stomach." Nero scratched the back of his head, he was a bit embarrassed to admit he hadn't eaten in a day.

Dante smiled. "Don' worry, we didn't come here to drink. This place has the best pizza around."

The waitress brought them the drinks.  
"Thanks," Dante said and Nero nodded her way with a smile.  
As she set down the drinks, she asked:  
"Have you already decided what you want to eat?"

Dante closed the menu and put it back where he got it.  
"A pepperoni pizza, extra cheese, no olives." He looked over at Nero, who was still looking at the menu.  
"You can take whatever you want. It's on me."

Nero shook his head. "Nah, that's fine. I've got cash." He put down the menu and turned to the waitress. "Make that two."

She nodded and left.

Dante crossed his arms.  
"So." His eyes met Nero's. "Time for some questions. What brings you here?"

Nero looked away in embarrassment, locking eyes with Dante made him feel weird inside. Not a bad type of weird, but still, weird. But then again, maybe he felt weird because he was asked what he's doing there.  
"…Well, I got kicked out of Fortuna for being a monster, a threat to the people, destroying the city's cultural artefacts and some other bullshit along those lines." He said in a mocking tone, rolling his eyes. "Nothing unexpected." He took a sip of his coffee while Dante raised an eyebrow.

"A monster, huh?" He exhaled and took a gulp of beer. "That place does sound like they would exile their only decent devil slayer."

Nero smirked at that.  
"Yeah, well. I've been planning on leaving that place for a while now. Glad I'm outta there."

"Good," Dante said with a genuine smile.

The waitress interrupted their little chat by placing a pizza down on the table in front of each of them. "Here you go, boys. Enjoy!"

They attacked their pizzas and talked for quite a while. They genuinely enjoyed each other's company. They could talk about a lot of things with each other. Hell, Nero couldn't talk with Kyrie about demons, weapons, killing, hordes or fighting techniques; that's why it felt really good, having someone who understood him and Dante felt exactly the same. All Trish and Lady did all day was plot about stealing his cash for the thousandth time.

While they were enjoying themselves, the sky has cleared up and it was already late afternoon.

"Hey, I said I could pay for myself…" Nero said as Dante paid the whole bill.

"I know." Dante said. "And I said I was paying first, so…" He said, leaving the diner. Nero followed shortly after.

They got back to the car and Dante sat in. Nero stood outside.

"Hey, thanks for this." He scratched his nose as he often does when he's shy. "I'm glad I bumped into you. But I don't know where I'm going yet, so-"

He was cut off by Dante opening the passenger seat door open again.  
"-Just get in. You and I both know you don't have anywhere else to go but my place, sooo… Get in before I drag you in myself."

Nero's eyes were wide open at that. He blinked a few times but sat in nonetheless.  
"I didn't say that," Nero said.

"Well, kid? Do you?" Dante said, looking at him with eyebrows raised. "…Have anywhere else to go?"

Nero sighed and crossed his arms.  
"…Just drive, old man". Dante laughed and gave him a light punch to the shoulder.

"Told ya."


	4. Home is where the heart is

The drive was pretty quiet. Dante put on some music and Nero didn't seem to mind at all. He leaned on the window and eventually fell asleep. The safe feeling, the classic rock, the smell of leather, the warmth of the car, Dante's presence… it made him feel safe and relaxed. And much more than that, it made him feel good about himself. He was happy. Pretty damn happy.

Dante let him be, knowing he's been through a lot with next to no sleep. He decided to take the longer route home, glancing over at Nero every chance he had, making sure he was sleeping soundly.

Dante felt a special kind of way that evening. The whole drive he kept thinking about that day.

'What are the damn odds of me bumping into him. HIM of all people. This has got to be a dream,' Dante thought, a smile glued to his face. He felt like that hole in his life was pushed to the very back of his mind. Just for a moment.

Dante pulled up at the back of the office, parking his car. He turned the engine and lights off. He sat there for a bit, observing, not wanting to wake up the sleeping Nero next to him.

"Nero," he said, waiting. "Hey, Nero, we're here." He put a hand on Nero's shoulder.

Upon feeling it, Nero slowly awoke.  
"Shit, how long was I out?" Half asleep, he rubbed his eyes and started looking around.

"'Couple hours." Dante smiled softly.  
"Come on, let's get you inside, you can get some proper sleep for a change." Dante got out of the car and waited for Nero, who followed shortly after, grabbing his belongings from the back seat.

"Where are we? What city is this?" Nero walked over to Dante who took Nero's bag and sword case from him.

"Capulet. Shithole, but the rent's cheap, so. Gotta make do."

"You don't have to, Dante…" Nero felt shy about Dante's chivalrous move. Dante gave him an I know look and walked over to the front door. Nero was in awe, looking up at the bright flashing neon pink sign above the door.

"Devil May Cry. I've heard a lot about it. I had no idea this was you."

Dante laughed. "No kidding?" He proceeded to unlock the double door.

"After you," he gestured towards the younger.

Nero entered and was hit with surprise. He walked through the office slowly, examining it in all its glory.

'A high ceiling? Trophies? Weapons? Guitars? A damn bar?' He was genuinely amazed.

"Dante, this place is-"  
"A shithole?"  
Dante interrupted him, feeling bad he didn't clean the place up before he left.

Nero shot him a look of confusion. "What? No. It's amazing. This is exactly what I imagined it would look like."

Dante's face lit up "It is? You imagined what it would look like?" He grinned at Nero in a teasing manner.

Nero looked away and blushed a deep red.  
"Shut up."

Dante laughed. "I'm glad you like it. I figured you'd hate this joint. It's an old mess."

Nero walked over to the guitar set under the stairs.  
"It's exactly what a hunter's place would look like. A mess; with trophies and weapons. I didn't know you played," he said, pointing at Dante's set.

Dante walked over. "We don't know much about each other, do we?" he paused, "I used to play."

Nero nodded, "I guess we don't."

Dante pats him on the back, "We've got plenty of time for that. How about we call it a day and get some sleep?".

Nero paused a bit and nodded.  
"Just for the night, though. I'll be out of your way by tomorrow."

Dante's face got a bit more serious as he looked at Nero.  
"Out of my way."

Nero looked away, "I'll find a hotel, or a hostel, don't worry about it."

Dante crossed his arms, "What makes you think you're in my way?"

Nero scratched his neck. "You've helped me enough as it is, Dante… I can't keep asking you for favours."

Dante raised an eyebrow, "You didn't. I offered."

Nero wasn't sure what to say.

"Now, I don't have a spare bed so you can either take the couch or, if you're brave enough, share the bed upstairs with me." Dante grinned as he looked Nero in the eye.

Nero rolled his eyes, looked away as a blush appeared on his face, smiling.  
"Keep dreaming, asshole."

'I will,' Dante thought to himself.

They walked upstairs and grabbed a blanket and a pillow for Nero then headed back down.  
"Alright, I'll be upstairs if you need me. The bathroom's in the back, make yourself at home. I'll see you in the morning."

Nero nodded and looked at the floor, still feeling invasive by being there.  
"Thanks. For everything."

Dante put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you're here. Good night, kid," he said and walked upstairs.

"Good night…" Nero smiled. He showered, went straight to the couch and fell asleep right away.


	5. The first morning

When Dante entered his bedroom, he didn't bother to turn on the light. He knew exactly where everything was, he enjoyed the darkness of it. He undressed down to his boxer briefs, made his way over to the bed and threw himself onto it. He was tired. The whole day was stressful for him but in a different kind of way. A new, good way. He didn't expect just being around Nero again and spending a day trying to make a good impression to be this exhausting.

He couldn't believe the way he was acting that day.  
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Dante said to himself.

'I usually barely even pay for my own pizza, now I'm paying for whatever he wants? And I'M the one offering it? I even offered… no, practically forced him to stay here! Hell, I've even been observing him a little too closely, I'm going crazy…'

Dante knew just how out of character he was acting. This wasn't his usual carefree, no-fucks-given persona. He cared.  
'Shit, this could be bad.'  
He ran his palms across his face and turned around, trying as hard as he could not to think about Nero and fell asleep shortly after.

  


* * *

  


Dante was woken up by the sun gently peeking through his bedroom window, sun rays falling on his skin. He covered his face with his hand, the bright direct sunlight feeling painful to wake up to.  
'Ah, crap, what time is it?'

He glanced at the old clock on his bedside and quickly sat up when he noticed it was already well past 11 in the morning. He grabbed his clothes off the side of the bed where he left them the previous evening and made his way out the bedroom once he was dressed.

He walked to the railing and looked down, stopping in surprise to see Nero still asleep motionlessly on the couch. He leaned on the railing and observed for a bit, the corners of his mouth turning into a soft smile. He watched the covers that were completely hiding Nero from Dante's sight slowly rise and fall.

'Damn, I wonder when he's last had a good night's sleep.'

Dante walked downstairs quietly and sat down at the desk, letting Nero sleep for as long as he needed to. He deserved some rest after a rough bunch of days.

  


* * *

  


Nero awoke to a pleasant smell of coffee and stretched, unsure of where exactly he was before he remembered the previous day.

Dante noticed the movement under the covers and smiled.

"That couch must be really uncomfortable."

Nero groaned in response. "It really is."  
He sat up, pushing the covers down into his lap. He ran a hand through his slightly messy hair, trying to fix it at least a little bit to look the best he could, it felt like a subconscious move he made around people. He wore a dark blue T-shirt that was just a tad too big for him.

"How do you handle all this leather. It's the least comfortable material there is," Nero said, pointing at the couch's surface.

Dante laughed, "Says the guy who wears denim everything."  
He got up from his table and walked over to Nero, handing him the cup of coffee he had prepared for him earlier.

"How did you sleep?"

Nero took the cup, holding it with both hands. "Honestly? That was the best sleep I've had in months."

Dante crossed his arms smiled, their eyes met.

"Well, minus the couch," Nero added while taking a big sip of the coffee.

"Can't say I didn't offer you the bed," Dante teased back, walking over to the table and picking up a piece of paper. "I got a call while you were asleep, sounds like a bunch of demons decided to show up around town. You in?" Dante looked back at Nero over the shoulder, the younger one nodding back in his direction.

"Hell yeah, I am." Nero got up from the couch, grabbed his bag and headed for the bathroom, placing his already empty coffee cup on Dante's table while passing by.

Dante hated to admit this, but as Nero passed him wearing nothing but the oversized T-shirt and boxers that emphasized his features perfectly, his eyes followed. He got a pretty good glance, checking the younger one out, thinking to himself. 'For fuck's sake, contain yourself. Damn.' He mentally shook his head, looked down at the paper again, trying to distract himself from the intrusive thoughts. Finally, Nero disappeared from his field of view and closed the door behind him. Dante sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'This is gonna to be a long day.'


	6. Stay

They've been driving around the city for about an hour now. Dante explained to Nero that the caller spotted several lesser demons all around town in smaller groups so they just drove from one location to the other, taking them out and moving to the next spot, both not saying too much to one another.

Dante was trying to keep his mind and eyes off of Nero, and Nero was not too sure about what to say, what to talk about with the older hunter. He already felt intrusive by staying at the office, he didn't also want to annoy Dante with pointless chat. So, minus the occasional comment, they spent most of the car rides in silence.

Dante was the first to speak after a long pause.

"So," he started.

"Where were you planning on going once you left Fortuna?" He didn't want to pester Nero with personal questions, but he was interested nonetheless.

Nero froze for a bit. He knew he couldn't just tell the truth directly, as he already lied about it when he was first picked up by Dante.

'Oh, I don't know, I didn't plan on finding you for months now or anything. I definitely didn't agree with Kyrie when she told me what I needed most was to go look for you, the one person I know who's part demon like myself. And I for sure did not look you up and consider asking you to stay with you and learn from you in the first place. Not at all.'

Just thinking about this made him embarrassed. His cheeks flushed red and he looked out the window, pretending to recall his plan.

"I had a few places in mind. I was gonna look for the cheapest apartment and settle in, for starters." He had no idea how to continue since anything but finding Dante made no sense.

"Then, well… I'd look for any demonic activity, see if anyone needed my help. I figured maybe I'd bump into you, ask you for some advice and all that..."

He immediately regret saying that, it was as bad as just straight up telling Dante the truth.

Hearing Nero's words genuinely surprised Dante. Hearing that he was, in fact, part of his plan all along. The end goal, even. He smiled.

"Well, what do you know. You skipped the middle man entirely."

Nero paused for a bit. "Not really. I just mixed up the order of things. I found you, now I just have to find myself an apartment."

He felt uneasy saying that as he really wished he didn't have to leave the office. But at the same time, he didn't want to just stay there without Dante being the one to ask him to stay. The pressure in his chest was getting stronger, he really didn't want to have this talk right then and there. At least not until he found an apartment he could pretend to want to move into. Then, when he'd bring it up and Dante would ask him to stay at the office, he'd smoothly agree to stay, probably having thought of some clever excuse about the benefits of sharing the place or some shit.

Dante interrupted his thought process.

"... Something wrong with my place?"

He genuinely wanted to know why Nero kept going on about leaving.

Nero's heart skipped a beat or six as the weight lifted off his chest, Dante's words being exactly what he wanted to hear but he absolutely hated admitting it. He finally looked at Dante, the blush still very much present on his cheeks.

"...What? No! Of course not."

"Well then. You skipped the middle man. You're settled. " Dante gave him a warm smile, trying to be convincing. Nero was staying there, like it or not.

Nero paused again, unsure of what to say next. He looked down in embarrassment, clearly having trouble maintaining eye contact in awkward situations.

"... I guess I am." He scratched his nose and Dante knew exactly how Nero felt, recognizing that particular move he always made.

Dante noticed that Nero was finally smiling, even if just a little bit. He could tell Nero wanted to stay and just wanted to be polite about it.

"I know the couch isn't the greatest, but we'll figure it out, alright? Now stop worrying about that." Their eyes met again. All he wanted was to reassure Nero that he was wanted there. By Dante. A lot. Maybe too much.

"I wasn't worried," Nero laughed back.

"Yeah, right. It was written all over your face," Dante messed with him to lighten the mood.

Nero rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

They laughed it off, both glad that it was finally out of the way so they could relax and continue on with what was left of the job.


	7. Take it

It ended up taking them a few hours to find all the nests spread across town and to take them out one by one. It ended up being a pleasant job. It wasn't too much work, yet it was just enough to give them a bit of a workout. Both of them enjoyed fighting side by side and figuring out each other's techniques. They finally arrived back at the office after collecting their payment for the job they did.

Dante opened the double doors carelessly, counting the cash they got. Nero followed closely after him.

"Finally. I was waiting-" Trish began and paused as she was hit with a surprise she was not expecting. She did not anticipate a second figure to follow Dante through the office doors. She was sitting on the edge of Dante's desk, her neck tilted a bit to the side so she could get a closer look at whoever was approaching her. "Oh."

She smiled when she realized who it was.

Dante didn't bother to look up at her, still counting. "What do you want?" He didn't really seem to care about the answer.

Nero stepped out from behind Dante, feeling a little bit embarrassed. He subconsciously hid his already covered devil bringer behind his back and out of her sight. He nodded Trish's way in greeting, but being Nero, he didn't make direct eye contact with her for longer than a moment, his eyes trying to focus on the space around him. He didn't expect anyone but Dante to be around the office.

Trish folded her arms as Dante sat down on the chair by his desk, mumbling something while trying to recount his cash. Her eyes moved from Nero to Dante. "I didn't know you had company." She gave a devilish look and waited for him to reply.

Dante raised an eyebrow her way, something about the look was telling him Trish has been picking up on his recent thought regarding the younger hunter. She did have a sense for that stuff, she always read him like an open book with massive bold letters despite Dante never expressing his true thoughts to anyone. He wasn't expecting Trish to care about Nero's presence, but she seemed a lot more interested than he thought she would be. He sighed, splitting the deck of cash into two approximately even parts and beckoned to Nero to come over to the desk.

He finally answered Trish. "Yeah, well, now you know."

Nero came over as asked. When Dante slid one of the decks of money along the desk's surface over to him, he gave Dante a questioning look. "Wait, what? No, I'm not taking it."

Dante looked up at him, their eyes met. "Of course you are."

He didn't really give Nero time to complain as he stood up and headed straight for the bathroom, giving Trish a vague look of acknowledgment. "This can wait." He said to Trish, motioning towards the bathroom door.

Both Trish and Nero followed Dante with their eyes, an awkward silence surrounding the room as Dante disappeared behind the door.

Trish turned back to Nero, an intrigued look on her face. She looked him up and down in amusement. "Nero. It's been a while."

Nero left the money on the table, not wanting to just take it without discussing the situation with Dante once he was done in the shower. He knew Dante did this just to avoid confrontation by leaving Nero alone with Trish.

"Yeah, I don't believe we've properly met," he remembered the way he dismissed her daring introduction last time.

Trish looked at Nero's demon arm he was trying to keep out of her sight. "You don't have to hide your arm around here. I'm Trish. Gloria wasn't working too well for me," She jokingly said, offering her right hand and waited for Nero to shake it this time around. And after a bit of hesitation, he did.

"Yeah, well, you had me fooled," he admits as they broke the handshake after sharing a smile.

"I am good at that." Trish shuffled her position on the edge of the table a bit, crossing her arms. "So. What brings you here?"

Nero wasn't sure how to respond to her question, looking at the floor and scratching the tip of his nose, starting to feel a little bit nervous. "I had to get out of Fortuna and, uh... I happened to run into Dante on the way and, well. He insisted I come with him."

"I see. Interesting." She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Dante being lucky for once, accidentally running into the person he's been thinking of non-stop for the past few months, and bringing him home all at once.

"That explains why he wasn't around when I stopped by yesterday."

"Yeah, we got here pretty late."

She hummed back in approval, silence drawing between them again. She thought about what to say for a bit.

"Judging by the lone bag over there by the couch, I'm assuming you're staying here?"

The question made Nero even more nervous and embarrassed. He really didn't like having to explain that he's sleeping on Dante's couch because the stubborn, caring older hunter absolutely wouldn't let him stay at a hotel. Everything about that was awkward. He wanted to stay here, hell, it was his plan since he left Fortuna, he just was not going to admit it in any way, shape or form. Not happening.

"I'm only crashing here until I find a proper place to stay, shouldn't take long." He tried to play it off cool, heading over to the couch and sitting down. He started flipping through the newspaper that was on the coffee table in front of him, looking at the page containing all sorts of advertisements. He was searching for any apartment listing, trying to give the impression that he was eager to get out of this place as soon as possible.

Trish smirked at the sight, seeing right through the boy. Her demonic senses were picking up his nervous feelings despite his chill facade. She liked him already.


	8. Everything you need

The sound of the bathroom door opening made Nero look up from the newspaper and what he saw made him look right back down in a blink. Dante was walking out of the bathroom, his black zip-up shirt nowhere to be found, red denim pants still unbuttoned and unzipped, drying his hair with a towel as puffs of steam followed him from the open bathroom door. Something about it was making Nero feel a bit shy. He wasn't expecting Dante to be so… carefree around people.

Trish rolled her eyes as the sight of Dante, knowing him well enough to know he was trying to impress someone, and it definitely wasn't her. She decided it was probably best to give the boys privacy.

She counted and took some bills from Dante's part of the money that was still on the table from before. "I'm taking what you owed me, we're clear for now. Call me if you need anything." Trish waved at the boys and made her way ever so elegantly out the door. "Have a lovely day, boys."

"Yeah, yeah." Dante dismissed her, walking over to the desk. As he was buttoning and zipping up his red jeans, he noticed that Nero's money was still there. Glancing over at his direction, he saw Nero looking at the adverts, looking as busy as ever. He knew the situation immediately so he walked over to the couch and dropped the small deck of money on top of the newspaper.

Nero looked up at Dante, the sudden surprise and the sight above him making his heart race. He didn't know why he was reacting the way he was on the inside, but it felt strange and new. Their eyes met, and Nero's cheeks were suddenly a few shades darker than before.

"You should probably keep your cash off the desk. Or it's gonna start disappearing, like mine did just now." He smiled at the sight below him. Nero looked down at the money in front of him. "And you should put on a shirt." He smirked at his own snarky remark, regretting saying it already.

Dante noticed Nero's flustered expression immediately. Although Nero tried his best to appeared chill and not give a damn about Dante being shirtless and still somehow wet right there in front of him, Dante read his embarrassment clearly. And yes, he was enjoying himself way too much. He wanted to get that exact reaction out of the younger hunter.

'What the hell am I doing,' he thought to himself. He wasn't acting like himself around Nero, and it was becoming pretty apparent.

He chuckled at Nero's remark about being shirtless and ran the towel that was hanging around his neck through his hair once again and let it slide back to his shoulders. He approached the couch, ready to sit down.

Nero noticed Dante's move so he scooched over a bit and gave him space to sit.

"Stop looking at apartments, you already have a place," Dante added and sat down next to Nero on the couch. They sat there for a moment and Nero finally took the money from the paper into his left hand, examining it.

"Dante, I can't take this. I didn't come here for your cash. This is your job, it's your paycheck."

Nero took the money and held it in front of Dante, waiting for him to take it back. He felt really intrusive again, he didn't want to give Dante the impression that he was there to take his paycheck. He already felt bad enough for staying there, let alone getting paid.

However, Dante didn't take the money. He lightly pushed Nero's hand with the money back at Nero and crossed his legs, taking the newspaper from in front of Nero. "In that case, congratulations. You're hired," Dante said in a bit of a joking manner, but he fully meant it.

"..What?" Nero took a moment to reply as he was overrun with all sorts of emotions again. This wasn't at all what he was expecting out of this whole situation. He stared at Dante in disbelief, waiting for an answer.

Dante noticed the confused look on Nero's face but he looked back down at the paper, flipping through the pages. "You're staying here, we might as well be working together and splitting the paycheck. It's only fair, right?"

Nero thought about it for a moment. "You do realize you're already letting me stay here, right?"

"Yeah."

Nero wasn't sure how else to tackle the situation. "You gotta stop being so generous. I should be paying you, not the other way around."

Dante turned his head back to face Nero. "What else were you gonna do? Find a nine to five job with that?" Dante pointed at Nero's devil bringer.

Nero looked down, hair covering his eyes so Dante couldn't tell if he was upset over his wording. He didn't respond to the question.

Dante continued in a softer voice. "You gotta relax a bit, kid. Stop taking everything so seriously." He paused for a moment and collected his thoughts.

"Here's the deal. You're gonna be coming with me on jobs when you feel like it, and when you do, you'll get your part of the paycheck. Having you around isn't gonna cost me anything, so stop worrying about that. But, if you feel that bad about it, you can make it up to me in other ways."

Nero still didn't reply. Since it was getting a little awkward, Dante clarified.

"You can do some work around this place, keep the place and the weapons clean, take some calls and so on. We'll figure something out when the time comes."

Nero nodded, his head still facing the ground. Dante couldn't read his expression.

"You can pay for the pizza when I run out of cash eventually," Dante joked, laughing.

"You know there's other food than pizza out there, right?" Nero said, noticing the other evening that the place had a surprising amount of only pizza boxes and beer bottles littered around, and Dante's plan sounded like Pizza was the only thing he had in mind for the future as well.

"Yeah, well. Pizza's good, and relatively cheap."

"Making your own food isn't exactly expensive either."

"Hah. Making your own food." Dante cackled. "Do I look like I know how to cook?"

Nero's head shot up as he figured out the best way to make it up to Dante in the long run. "I can."

Dante raised an eyebrow and gave Nero a look of surprise.

"I'm not the best at it but, I've lived on my own cooking this far so it can't be that awful."

Dante was surprised, seeing Nero's mood change so fast. "Sounds like we've got a plan."

Nero smiled. "Yeah."

"Great." Dante smiled and closed the newspaper he wasn't actually interested in, to begin with. He placed it back in the coffee table and stood up from his chair, looking back at Nero. "I'll get dressed, you set up the pool table."

And Nero did just that. Dante ditched the towel and put on a fresh black button-up. They ordered some pizza, played pool and poker late into the evening until they closed the office and decided it was time to catch some sleep. Nero headed for the shower and Dante upstairs. It was a good day to start their new business partnership.


	9. Beautiful bastard

Dante was standing on top of the stairs, leaning on the railing. He was waiting for Nero to get out of the shower. He couldn’t get the younger hunter out of his mind recently, and the feeling was only getting more and more intense as time went on. 

Nero took a hot shower, he really needed one after the day he’s been through. It wasn’t necessarily the job that was to blame, it was the fact that Dante had an effect on him he couldn’t explain. He wanted to be around Dante, to spend time with him, learn from him and have the older hunter’s full attention. But when he got said attention, he would get flustered and shy, heart pounding as soon as he was somewhat close to Dante, was spoken to or felt eyes on him. He couldn’t explain why this was happening or why he was behaving the way he was, but it was exhausting and stressful. He knew what having a crush and being in love was like, but this feeling was different, it was a weird new mixture he’s never experienced before. He tried to suppress those feelings as much as he could, knowing there was 0 chance a relationship between the two would ever work. They were related after all.

When Nero was done in the shower and dried himself, he put on the oversized T-shirt he usually wore to sleep and a fresh pair of black boxer briefs. He brushed his teeth, made sure his not-yet-dried hair was looking good and headed out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. 

Nero walked across the dimly lit office to the couch, grabbing the sheets and pillow folded on top of his bag and setting them on the couch. He prepared his sleeping space neatly and turned around to go shut off the neon sign above the bar that seemed to be the only remaining light source in the room.

Dante watched Nero in silence, observing his movements, admiring the younger man’s slim but perfectly built figure. The oversized shirt wasn’t giving him a lot to observe on top, but what he did see below the shirt was pleasant. The boxer briefs hugging his form perfectly and then, there were his ungodly long legs. The way Nero walked only complimented his figure. He really had an eye for the kid. ‘ _Damn, he ain’t bad at all,’_ he thought.

Dante realized that he’s been staring at Nero’s body as soon as the young man in question stopped in surprise. He noticed Dante on the railing, his eyes definitely not fixated on his face but on his lower body. He froze for a moment, still processing that Dante was definitely checking him out. 

“Oh,” Nero started, cheeks suddenly red. “I thought you were asleep already.”

Dante made a mental note to keep his focus on Nero’s eyes and straightened up from his leaning position. “Yeah, I was just going.” He wasn’t sure what else to say, he really had no reason for being there other than wanting to see Nero, hoping to see the sight he saw that same morning. “If anyone calls before I’m up, take the call and write down the info. I’ll get to it. Unless it’s an emergency, then come wake me up.” 

“Alright.” Nero nodded.

He turned a bit and made a step towards the bedroom. “Good night, Nero.” 

“Good night,” Nero responded mostly to himself as Dante was already behind his bedroom doors by now.

Nero exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He turned off the neon sign and flopped down on the couch, covering even his head. He got the strange feelings inside again, unsure of what just happened. 

‘ _Was Dante really checking me out? Or am I going batshit insane…_ ’

\---

Dante sat down on the edge of the bed, his face in his hands. _‘What the hell kind of curse am I under?’_ He slid his hands down his face and ran them through his smooth silver hair as he lay backward on the bed.

 _‘This is getting out of hand. He’s my nephew, for god’s sake. Snap the fuck out of it,’_ he cursed himself. 

As he was saying that, he remembered. Every so often throughout his life, his inner devil would get really aggressive and overpowering, and that part of him would prevail over his human self. All his thoughts, decisions and actions would be influenced by his demonic side. It was the part of him that drove him all kinds of wild. It hasn’t happened to him in a very long time, and he has forgotten just how strong the feelings would hit. It felt like ‘ _demon puberty_ ’ all over again, but twice as intense and… not quite the same. Something was still different.

_‘I’m fucking pathetic…’_

He took a deep breath. The only thing on his mind was Nero’s body, his movements, his flustered face, his hair, eyes, voice, scent. He couldn’t get it to stop. His heart was racing, he was sweating, he couldn’t stay still.

 _‘This isn’t a winnable situation, just let it pass,’_ he addressed his inner devil. He was sure the part of him that wasn’t human was just going through something it had to go through and it would be over eventually.

He moved to get undressed and once he was down to his underwear, he properly laid down on the bed. He took a deep breath and ran both his hands across his face again. He tried his best to focus on something else, _anything_ else, but to no avail. It was still Nero, no matter what he thought about. 

_‘This kid. This fucking kid.’_

Eventually, the thoughts calmed down and he managed to fall asleep. His dreams, however, were not pleasant.

\---


	10. Fears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, graphic violence and some sexual content in this chapter.

_Dante found himself sitting on a leather couch in a vaguely familiar, dimly lit room. There was club music playing in the background, the bass hitting his ears strongly. The whole place was hazy, full of fine rose-colored smoke in the air. He heard other people in the room talking, singing, laughing. He felt his head spinning lightly, his vision blurry, unable to properly focus on his surroundings. He had a hard time figuring out what was going on, where he was, but it seemed to him like he was out, having a good time and had too much to drink that night._

_What he immediately recognized as Nero walked up to him lazily, laughing and holding an almost empty glass in his left, human hand. Definitely alcohol, they must be out drinking, he thought. Took the kid out for a fun night, most likely._

_Nero was talking to Dante, but the noise of the club was so loud he couldn’t figure out what Nero had said. The bass hitting his eardrums was all he could make out._

_“What?” He said, squinting his eyes, trying to get his eyes to focus on the young man in front of him. He wanted to see Nero properly, even though he felt like he was definitely very drunk, possibly on something else. The air felt strange. His senses were telling him something in the air was making them both act this way._

_Nero waved a hand in front of him in a ‘nevermind’ type fashion, shaking his head before chuckling, tilting his head back and downing the rest of his drink. He put the empty glass on a nearby table and leaned over to where Dante was. He lost balance, stumbled ahead, and landed on his knees in front of Dante, right where he was sitting down between his legs, holding on to his thighs for support. His Devil Bringer glowing brightly against him._

_Dante was too out of it to catch him in time. He leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder to see if Nero was okay._

_“Whoah, kid... Take it easy... You alright?” He slurred out, slowly._

_They were both definitely pretty out of it. But he felt good. Very good. Seeing Nero in the position he was in made adrenaline rush through his body. He was enjoying himself a bit too much, a smirk on his lips._

_Nero kept chuckling, not even attempting to get up. He leaned forward, resting his head on Dante’s thigh, his hair covering his face._

_“..fuck,” Nero said and started laughing again._

_Dante had no idea what was funny, but for some reason, he found it funny too. He laughed along with Nero. They were both 100% nowhere near sober._

_Nero looked up at Dante, his face flushed, his messy hair partially covering his face, but just enough so they could still share eye contact. Nero licked his lips, face burning hot._

_“What, shut up...” Nero said._

_That look, Dante thought. The whole vibe, the music, the atmosphere, and the view in front of him, were all getting pretty erotic. He moved his hand off of Nero’s shoulders to his chin, running a thumb over Nero’s lips. Nero let him do it, but moved away after a bit, biting lightly and playfully into the fabric covering the zipper of Dante’s pants, pulling on it with his teeth. Eye contact still very much present, and it was killing Dante. It was a lot._

_Dante was both painfully obviously turned on, and shocked at the display in front of him. He didn’t expect that right off the bat, but he certainly wasn’t fighting it._

_“Slow down there..” He laughed, definitely not minding the attention he was getting from Nero. Both him and the demon inside of him very much *wanted* that. He just felt strange doing that while in a public place, surrounded by people he couldn’t make out. It didn’t bother him though, his body was definitely on actual fire at that point._

_As Nero began lightly rubbing his nose against the bulge that was painfully obvious by that point, Dante noticed three dark figures walk up to them behind Nero. He looked up, still dizzy and out of it._

_His mood shifted._

_“What?” He asked them with an annoyed look on his face, his tone deep and harsh. Their features were still unrecognisable to him entirely. As his eyes attempted to focus on their faces, he noticed the figures were carrying things in their hands._

_A_ _s Nero slowly, drunkenly turned around to see who was interrupting their intimate session, and before he had a chance to fully turn, the closest figure to Nero stabbed him quickly and violently. The long, thin sword piercing his whole stomach, jamming into the bottom of the couch on the other end. The figure then strongly turned the sword’s handle while it was still inside of Nero before pulling it back out violently._

_Dante jumped in his seat, grasping the leather couch, his body reacting much too slowly to possibly try to stop them in time, had he anticipated them to do this in the first place. He was immediately flushed with cold sweat, panic. His heart dropped to his stomach, he froze in place._

_“Nero..” was all he could mutter as he stared with eyes wide open at the sight in front of him, unable to move at all._

_Nero yelped at the impact and started violently gasping for air, grabbing his chest as he stared down at himself, blood gushing from his wound and mouth. Dante noticed the light immediately leave Nero’s demonic right arm._

_Before either of them could react at all, the second figure pulled out a gun and shot Nero a few times in the back. Each shot made Nero throw back his head and yell out in pain as hard as he could, each cry louder and higher to Dante’s ears. Each individual scream causing Dante’s heart to hurt as if he had gone through the same pain the younger one was physically suffering._

_The third figure grabbed Nero by the hair and began dragging him slowly away from Dante, leaving behind a trail of blood._

_Dante couldn’t move in the slightest, still just sitting there, staring after Nero’s lifeless body being dragged out of sight._

_Nero was out of sight, his cries still echoing in Dante’s head. Dante began hyperventilating, everything went dark, the music and the strong bass faded._

_Nero was gone._

_He stood up, his sight still fully dark, trying to go after them._

_“Nero??” He screamed, waiting for any response, for any sound._

_Nothing._

_He started to run, not knowing where they were or why he couldn’t see anything._

_He kept running after them, shouting Nero’s name at the top of his lungs._

_Nothing._

_Nero was gone._

  
  


_He let him die._

* * *

Dante was violently jolted awake, his heart pounding heavily, gasping for air. He touched his chest as if to check if there was a pound of bricks stacked on top of it. He was covered in cold sweat, he was shaking, trying to make sense of what just happened. 

'Shit, Nero…’ 

He felt something was terribly wrong. He immediately shot up from the bed, put on yesterday's pair of red jeans and a shirt from his closet rack and hurried outside his bedroom. 

He rushed out the room and stopped briefly on the top of the stairs to look around the office. Nero was nowhere to be seen. 

The jukebox was quietly playing classic rock. He ran downstairs and started checking every room. He checked the bathroom, nothing. He hurried to the back room, nothing. The only other room left was the kitchen. 

He barged in, the door almost hitting the wall behind it. He stopped on the spot at the sight in front of him. 

Nero was making breakfast by the stove, two cups of coffee already set on the kitchen counter.

Nero jumped and turned around at the sudden barge into the room, surprised and caught off guard. 

“What the _hell_?” 

Dante just stood there. 

“...You're here.” 

He stared at Nero, still breathing faster than usual.

He needed some time to process all of this. _'I was dreaming… Of course...’_

He sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger.

Nero watched the unusual behavior, not sure what exactly to say or do. He didn't say anything, he just grabbed the cup of coffee he prepared for Dante from the counter and took a few steps towards him.

“You alright?” He stopped in front of him, waiting for a response. 

“..Yeah.” Dante responded. “I must have had a shitty dream, it’s fine.” 

Nero nodded, offering Dante the cup of coffee, their eyes met. Dante smiled and took it. “Thanks, I really need it right now.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Nero returned the smile and turned back to continue prepping their meals.

“Thoughtful, are we?” Dante remarked, noticing what exactly was going on in the kitchen.

Nero laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he became a bit shy at the remark. “I hope you don't mind,“ he said as Dante took note of the groceries and other kitchen necessities that weren’t there previously. Nero made himself at home. “You didn't really seem like you've… well, ever used the kitchen before. Went out and grabbed a few things.”

Dante sat down at the kitchen table. “You’re not wrong.”

Nero brought the food and set it down in front of Dante and himself. He sat down and asked. 

“Hope you’re not a picky eater, I figured you’d like bacon and eggs. Everyone does.”

“I think you underestimate how long I’ve gone without a proper meal that isn’t pizza. Whatever you want to make, kid. I’ll take it.” The sight of the food made him feel better already.


	11. How do you do it?

They got through their first breakfast together without much talking, other than Dante complimenting Nero’s cooking every now and then, which definitely made Nero rub his nose, his signature move when he feels shy or embarrassed. Nero has never cooked for anyone but himself in the past, but seeing Dante enjoy it this much made him genuinely happy. He was confident, he’d be the cook around the place if it meant getting to see Dante enjoy what he’d made. 

Nero’s thoughts began to wander. The strange feelings he’d get any time he was around Dante were kicking in again. Nero tried to brush it off. _‘He’s liking the FOOD, not you. The cooking. The stuff you bought and prepared. That’s what he likes. Don’t flatter yourself.’_

Despite the positive response he got, Nero did notice that Dante was still very much out of it. The look in his eyes wasn’t the same, his posture was more closed off than it usually is, the way he spoke was somehow deeper. He felt like Dante avoided looking his way, his eyes gazing everywhere around him, but never stopping on his own. It was definitely different from the usual Dante who always had his eyes glued on Nero's when they were around each other. Nero decided to let him eat in peace.

When Dante was finished with the food, Nero finally asked his question.

“So… you wanna talk about it?”

Dante was in the middle of his last sip of coffee. He swallowed and put the cup down on the table. “Talk about what?” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. Their gazes finally met again.

“Can’t help but notice that dream really kicked your ass.”

Dante’s eyebrows furrowed, he looked down at the empty plate in front of him. The eye contact they shared reminded him of the images he had seen in his nightmare. Both of the absolute best, most adorable yet incredibly attractive and arousing look he could ever hope to see on Nero’s face, as well as the horrific, gruesome, painful imagery that followed. His mind was full of confusion, he didn’t know how to feel. He had to clear his head of all of that, fast. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“You barged in here earlier, looking for me.”

“Yeah.”

There was silence, Nero expected Dante to continue explaining why that was, but he didn’t say any more than that. 

“If you wanna talk about it-” Nero continued, but Dante cut him off.

“Not really, no.” Dante stood up from the kitchen table, collecting the plates and cups left over from their breakfast. His expression was still grim.

Nero’s heart sank a bit at that. He didn’t anticipate such a cold answer from Dante. He expected some clever remark followed by a sarcastic, even ever-so-slightly flirtatious answer, but he understood nonetheless. The dream must have been bad enough for Dante to not feel up to his usual spirits. He was worried his questioning might have upset Dante. _‘Shit…’_ he thought to himself.

“Alright,” Nero stood up as well, turning after Dante as he walked past him. His tone was different this time. “Got it.”

Despite having his back turned and not being able to see Nero’s face, Dante noticed the change of tone in Nero’s voice. He sounded apologetic, possibly upset. He couldn’t tell, but he felt he had probably been too direct with his answer, as he knew Nero meant well. He put the plates away in the sink and took a breath.

He turned back around again and gave Nero a genuine, warm smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

Nero nodded in response and made his way towards the door.

Dante stopped him just as he was about to exit through the door. “Hey.”

Nero stopped, his head turning somewhat, but not enough to face Dante. He listened to what he had to say.

“We haven’t gotten any calls, so. You wanna train?”

“What do you mean by ‘train’?”

“I can teach you a couple of fighting techniques.”

Nero seemed very interested. “Yeah, I’m in.”

“Alright.”

* * *

They grabbed their gear and made their way on foot to a nearby forest. They needed the space to properly move, and a forest with an open, grassy area was perfect for that.

They put their weapons aside as they weren’t going to use them for practice. 

Dante gave Nero instructions on what to do, how to attack him, and show him how to dodge or block his attacks. He shared whatever fighting knowledge he had taught himself or learned throughout the years, with the younger hunter. Then, it was Nero’s turn to show off what he had learned, and Dante would correct him as he went along. 

As Nero successfully pulled off the moves Dante had taught him, the seriousness around the lessons dropped and their practice would gradually turn into them just going at each other, freestyle. Dante felt his spirits lift, just having some fun with Nero made him put the dark imagery of his nightmare aside.

Nero’s goal was just to come out on top, and Dante continued taunting him by explaining exactly why he was failing at winning. They were both having a damn good time, their hearts racing, punches, kicks and grabs thrown everywhere like they did the first time they met. It was fast, messy, it was all about trying to outwit the other with clever moves and bring the other down. 

Dante was going easy on Nero. He knew the kid packed a punch, and he let him hit as hard as he wanted. But when it came to him making the impact with Nero, he held back. 

Nero wasn’t human, of course. You can stab and jab Dante as many times as you’d like, and he wouldn’t feel a thing. Nero however, felt the pain on a stronger level and didn’t quite heal as quickly as Dante did. He needed to be triggered for his healing to kick in on Dante’s level, and they weren’t going there. This was all practice and training. Nobody was getting hurt.

Finally, Dante managed to push Nero strong enough for him to fall backward on the soft mossy grass. Before Nero was able to make his move, Dante got on top of him. He grabbed both of Nero’s wrists, pinned them together above his head with his left hand, and put his right hand on Nero’s neck, holding it down, but not choking him. It was a demonstration, after all.

Dante looked him straight in the eye, a smile on his lips. “...and that’s how you disable your enemy.”

They stayed in that position for a bit, both cooling off and breathing heavily from the combat, eyes locked together. Both of them felt all kinds of ways in that moment. Whatever this feeling between them was when they were around each other, especially this close, and in this position, it was stronger than ever. It was a strong mixture of feelings they couldn’t quite pinpoint, but attraction seemed to be in the mixture.

Nero definitely felt defeated, but being pinned down by Dante, with that look in his eyes… yeah, it really pissed him off that he let himself get rendered defenseless by the old man, it was embarrassing, but he also may or may not have enjoyed it. Just a bit. Possibly. Who’d know?

And Dante? Well, he was practically sitting on top of Nero. Of course, he was having a blast. His hormones were probably through the roof, whatever his demonic side was going through, it was overwhelming for him, but in a positive way. It was pumping him with energy. Whatever was left of the shit mood he was in this morning, all gone, just like that.

Finally, Nero closed his eyes and sighed. “Alright, you win.”

Dante’s smirk was, as always, plastered on his lips. 

“Now, get off me before I tear you a new one.”

He didn’t actually mean it, of course. But the damn pressure from the pounding in his chest was getting too much to handle. They both felt it.

And Dante did just that. He let go of Nero’s arms and got up, offering a hand to help Nero stand up. Nero took it. 

* * *

They ran into some demon activity on their way back, which they happily took care of. They also decided to stop for pizza, and Nero insisted on paying because he really didn’t feel like making the older hunter food after being embarrassed like that. Pizza would have to be dinner, and Dante didn’t mind at all. It was his favorite, still. 

By the time the hunters finished their dinner and got back to the office, it was already late in the afternoon. They were both exhausted. 

They took their coats off and put their bloodied weapons away. Dante hit the fridge and returned to the younger hunter soon after, offering him one of the two beers he was holding. Nero happily took it, thanking Dante as he sat down next to him on the office couch. 

They sat there and had their drinks. Nero began.

“I really like your choice of music.”

“Yeah?” Dante asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nero nodded. “I checked out the Jukebox earlier. Took its damn time, barely worked, but I browsed through a few songs. Not a bad collection.”

Dante smiled. “Use it whenever you like. I don’t mind at all.”

Another silent moment passed between them.

Nero got more serious. 

“Listen…” he paused.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Dante looked at him, giving him a questioning look. “What do you mean?” Nero didn’t look back at Dante. He continued.

“I know I’ve been annoying with the apartment talk since I got here. But you don’t have to worry about me leaving out of the blue.”

Nero didn’t wanna bring up the dream, he knew it upset Dante to think about it. He just wanted to assure Dante he was there to stay, for now.

“Besides, I think we make a good team. I’ve got a lot to learn. So, yeah. I’m staying.” He finally looked at Dante and smiled.

Dante knew Nero probably figured his nightmare had to do with Nero being gone. The kid really knew exactly what to say to hit him right where he needed to. 

Dante smiled back. “I know. I’m the best there is.”

Nero laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

They sat there, joking around, finishing their drinks before deciding to call it a night.

Despite the rough morning, it was a damn good day.


	12. Sleepless Nights

A couple of weeks have passed, and the two hunters already had their routine set. 

Nero was used to waking up early from his days of being a knight of The Order, although even he would get lazy and sleep in on a cold, rainy day. He would make breakfast for the two of them every morning. He’d usually be the one to wake Dante up. The old man, getting too comfortable with Nero being around to do his work, had a habit of ignoring his alarm until someone called or banged on his bedroom door. 

Nero would experiment with exactly what he could make Dante eat. He seemed to be fine with anything Nero put in front of him, he never once complained. While Nero would rather shoot himself between the eyes than admit it, he wanted to know what Dante liked best, what he wanted, preferred. He was especially thoughtful when it came to the older hunter. 

After breakfast, they’d chill around the office, waiting for any calls. Sometimes, Dante would make Nero take the calls, get him used to the routine of collecting all the information they needed for the jobs, even negotiating the payment, in case Dante wasn’t around. Under Dante’s mentorship, Nero was becoming the real deal, a true hunter. 

If there were no calls that day, they would slack around the office, doing whatever to pass the time with the jukebox playing Nero’s favorites from Dante’s record collection in the background. Both of them loved to pass the time by tinkering with their weapons. Taking them apart and putting them back together again, cleaning them and trying out each other's arsenals for fun. 

Their evenings consisted of various drinks from Dante’s bar accompanied by poker, pool, or darts, whatever they felt like that night. That was the time of day they’d both feel most relaxed, but at the same time, on edge. Being around each other definitely did things to both of them. A drink or two in, Dante couldn’t keep his eyes off of Nero, and Nero would internally burst with hormones at any slight physical contact with the older hunter, which given Dante’s recent touchy nature when it came to Nero, was quite frequent. Dante really wasn’t holding back, although he really wanted to, or at least, should have wanted to.

They quickly became a lot more comfortable around each other. Nero’s shy and polite phase had passed, and he became more talkative, he joked around with the older hunter more, he’d even get noticeably pissed and throw insults while Dante laughed, knowing that was exactly the Nero he first met and the foul-mouth punk kid he liked a little too much. The attitude was his favorite part, and he liked to intentionally irritate Nero to get a reaction out of him. If he pushed his luck enough, he’d even get a few punches thrown his way that would, on a good day, eventually turn into a feisty spar. The energy between them just worked so well.

Dante was well aware of just how different he was towards Nero than the other people in his life. He had the kid on his mind every waking hour, and it was not getting any easier with the overwhelming rush he’d feel when he got a little too close to Nero. He knew being flirtatious with the younger hunter was probably (most definitely) a terrible idea, and trying to stop himself and knock some sense into his persistent demonic blood, didn’t work most of the time. He was doing his best to be accomodating to Nero, he was a bit too chivalrous, and Nero definitely noticed it. 

They had each other figured out, and they both felt the forbidden, unspoken changes they were experiencing in each other's proximity. And yet, it wasn’t something they felt they could act on. They had to swallow it all.

* * *

Dante couldn’t bring himself to sleep recently. His thoughts were full no matter how much he tossed and turned. He couldn’t shake Nero from his mind. 

He laid in bed, a sheet barely covering his abdomen. His arms crossed behind his head, eyes wide open staring at the pitch darkness that was his room. 

**_Nero_ **. 

“Fuck...” He groaned, annoyed at himself for letting the younger devil get under his skin so strongly.

He thought about the way Nero looks at him. That smile he seems to only equip for Dante. Nobody else gets to see that very same gentleness in him. The small gestures he does when he’s embarrassed. The strands of hair covering Nero’s eyes when Dante wants to get a good look. His form. His movement. The faint glow of his demonic arm, changing golden in hue ever so slightly when Dante gets too close. His eyes on Dante when he isn’t looking. He notices all of it. He senses everything much stronger than he’d like. The tone of Nero’s calm, low voice ringing in his ears. Everything. All of it.

The thoughts just kept coming, and it felt like every atom in his body was screaming at him. He wanted Nero more than anything, and he knew Nero was something he couldn’t have. He had to repress it, he had to stop himself. He had no other choice.

By the time Dante decided his attempts at sleep were in vain and his thirst for a tall glass of ice-cold water got the best of him, the clock on his nightstand read 4:55 am. He lazily sat up and ran both hands across his face. 

“He’s killing me,” Dante whispered to himself and took a deep, slow breath.

He left his bed and started looking around the room for his clothes, before remembering why what he was looking for wasn’t anywhere to be found.

‘Right, the laundry...’ He never got around to bringing his fresh clothes up the previous evening. Being around Nero completely shifted most of his attention over to the younger hunter. Even the bare minimum of daily tasks he would have normally done before Nero walked into his life, were now often forgotten or dismissed. 

He quietly made his way out of his bedroom, walking slowly, making sure not to wake Nero. It was still too early for either of them to be up anytime soon.

He made his way to the kitchen first. After his thirst was dealt with, he went to the bathroom in the back of the office and took care of his morning routine. He took a cold shower in hopes of clearing his mind of the literal devil that kept living in it rent-free. Afterward, he dug around the small pile of clean clothes he never put away and grabbed a few articles of clothing before putting them on alongside the rest of his gear, making his way quietly into the office. But not quietly enough, it seemed.

* * *

The sound of footsteps against the wooden floor that seemed to be slowly approaching startled Nero, who was just barely fast asleep. He laid facing the couch, so he couldn’t see who it was. The office was still dark, it felt much too early in the morning for the noise to be coming from Dante, he thought. 

Suddenly, his defensive nature kicked in. By now, Nero was aware of the fact that Dante was the single biggest target for all demonkind, and he had no choice but to always be alert, always ready for someone to attempt to hunt Dante down.

He swiftly grabbed Blue Rose which was always tucked under his pillow for cases like these, turned around, and aimed at the source of the movement.

His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and he realized that it was, indeed, Dante standing there, putting on his leather gloves, a surprised look on his face. 

“Heh,” Dante couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. “I’ve trained you right. Always on guard.”

Nero exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he was holding and lowered the gun. “For fucks sake, Dante. You’re the last person I’d expect at this hour….”

Dante smiled. “Sorry about that.”

Nero sat up, crossing his legs on the couch and covering them with the sheets. He subconsciously adjusted his hair and looked back at Dante. The moment of silence was getting awkward, so Nero began. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Yeah… not at all.”

“Me neither, to be honest.”

Dante raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? What’s keeping you up?”

Nero scoffed. _‘What do you think, jackass,’_ he thought to himself.

“I don’t know. This couch is a nightmare, for one.”

At least that was what he chose to tell the older hunter. In fact, Nero has been kept awake by a similar thing Dante was suffering from. 

He was lost in his own thoughts a lot recently. Thought about Dante. About the way Dante treats him so nicely, yet teases him at every opportunity he gets. He thought about their dynamic, their energy. The way Dante would ruffle his hair when walking by him, the way Dante would give him the last slice of pizza even though he knew damn well Dante wanted it for himself. The way he always complimented him, be it battle or whatever he cooked, or even what he chose to wear that day. Dante knew exactly how to nonchalantly flirt and dig himself even deeper into Nero’s heart. It made him feel like his chest was full of sparks, he was definitely crushing for Dante, hard. But he would beat himself up over it. Dante wasn’t someone he could allow himself to like in that way. He just couldn’t, it wasn’t an option. And yet, his mind would never let him rest.

“Going somewhere?” Nero finally asked the older hunter, as he noticed that Dante was fully geared up.

Dante nodded. “Yeah, I figured I’d find some demons to smack around, clear my head.”

“Oh. Okay.” Nero looked down at his lap. He was hoping a question was following, but there was silence.

Dante rested his hands on his hips and thought about it for a second. He needed to get away from all this frustration, to stop thinking about it all, to refresh. Yet Nero seemed like he wasn’t too happy to be left behind, even if it was way too early in the morning. _‘Screw it,’_ he felt too guilty to leave him behind. And in truth, Dante always wanted Nero close to him. That’s what got him in this mess of a headspace, to begin with. 

“Since you’re up too, wanna come with me?”

Dante saw the spark in Nero’s eyes at the offer. 

“If we don’t find any demons, we can just mess around with each other. I’ve got a lot more to teach you, you know.” He smiled at Nero.

“Right. I bet you do.” 

Nero got up and started getting his gear together.

* * *

To Dante’s rotten luck, there were no demons to be found anywhere that morning. They had walked around for long enough, to no avail. Dante stopped and sighed, shrugging in annoyance. 

“Huh. Nothing.”

Nero, who was walking in front of Dante, came to a stop as well, looking around the area. 

“Yeah… looks like it.”

A lack of demons would normally be good, but Dante really needed to release his pent up frustration one way or another, or he’d seriously lose his mind.

Their eyes met, and Nero knew exactly what time it was. He turned to the side a bit, reached for his sword, revved it a few times and charged directly at Dante, who swiftly dodged the move and swung back. 

The two of them never took their eyes off one another when fighting, they always carefully observed each other's attack patterns and moves. And bodies, maybe. Definitely. 

Their spars were always vigorous and almost playful, as neither of them held back anymore. They knew each other's limits well enough to know they could fully let go of themselves and they still wouldn’t harm one another. 

Eventually, Dante managed to disarm Nero of his weapons, and Nero confidently charged towards Dante with only his demonic arm. It didn’t end up well for Dante however, as his body slammed into the ground with Nero on top of him shortly after. 

“ _Damn_ ,” Dante groaned, his voice low and quiet. He was definitely feeling the powerful blow he just took from Nero, yet it also felt good to be in this position, in a twisted kind of way.

The energetic spar left them both panting heavily. That was it, Nero had the upper hand, he won.

“You’re learning fast,” Dante grinned as he complimented the young hunter pinning him to the ground with his thighs and shining demonic arm. 

Nero released his pressure on Dante and got up, offering his human hand to Dante, which he happily accepted, dusting off his red leather coat.

“Or you’re just getting old,” Nero jabbed back.

Dante laughed in response. “I could easily wipe the floor with you any day, kid.” He paused and grinned Nero’s way devilishly. “If I wanted to.” 

Nero nodded in a mocking manner. “Big words, coming from someone I had to help get up off the ground seconds ago, _old man_ ,” Nero teased back with a smug smile.

Dante shook his head. “I’ll let you have this one.” Their eyes locked, and Dante continued. “We’ll see how you handle me once I’ve had some proper sleep,” Dante said with a suggestive, cocky smile on his face, making Nero’s cheek burn up instantly as he looked away and scoffed. “You have _no_ idea what I’ll do to you.”

“Just- shut up.” Nero spat back in embarrassment as he started walking towards his weapons and collected them. The two of them made their way home.

As soon as they got back, Nero went straight back to the couch to finally get some sleep. He got his fix, his ‘Dante batteries’ were recharged. And Dante was no different, he sat down at his office desk and put his feet on the table, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Hoping his mind was finally at ease and he could rest, at least for a little while.


	13. The Advice of Lady

It was an uneventful day, no calls to keep the hunters occupied. The double doors of the office opened. Dante cocked an eye and looked up from his magazine, not particularly caring who it was, but happy at least something was finally happening. Nero was still sleeping on the couch with headphones over his ears, unaware of anyone entering. Dante didn’t mind, because it meant he could check Nero out as much as he wanted, and it wouldn’t be followed by a punch in the gut. 

The figure entering the building was Lady, carrying an envelope in her hand, Kalina Ann under her arm. Her eyes were covered by her sunglasses, a smile on her lips. Dante remembered, she did say (more so, warn him) she’d come by to collect her money sometime. Today must have been the day. 

She walked directly towards Dante’s desk. “Decided to give you some extra time. Hope you’ve got the paycheck ready by now-” she stopped in front of the desk when she noticed the other figure in the room out of the corner of her eyes. She pulled down her sunglasses slightly, just enough to get a proper look at the sleeping occupant of the couch. “Hmm. Right, Trish did say you had company.” She seemed intrigued. 

Dante took his legs off the table and put the magazine he was reading away. “You remember Nero, right?”

Lady hummed, looking the boy up and down. She then noticed his demonic arm which was resting on Nero’s stomach, although only partially uncovered by a sleeve, emitting a faint glow which gave its presence away. “How could I forget?”

Lady took Kalina off her back and leaned it down against the desk. She sat down on the edge of its surface, still watching Nero. “What brings him all the way here? Family reunion?” She teased.

Dante scoffed, his expression a lot less pleasant than before. “Hilarious, truly.” Lady could tell Dante didn’t like that last bit. He hated the thought of the fact that they had to be blood. It was the last thing he wanted to think about while his whole being desperately shouted at him to claim him, to get close, to touch him, to be near him. It was a curse he couldn’t escape.

Lady crossed her arms, waiting for an actual answer.

Dante sighed and looked over to Nero. “I ran into him a few weeks ago, the day I went to take care of those basilisks and their moth buddy.”

Lady smiled. “Ah, you’re welcome.”

Dante raised an eyebrow her way. 

“You wouldn’t have taken that job if it wasn’t for me.” Dante rolled his eyes at that comment, and Lady continued teasing. “Come on, I practically forced you to take care of it.”

“Right.” And she was, if she didn’t nag him to take the job, their paths wouldn’t have crossed. 

“Did the puppy get lost?” She asked while eyeing the boy.  
  
“No.” Dante paused but didn’t elaborate further.

“...Well?”

“He was exiled.” He finally answered.

“Exiled,” Lady repeated, trying to make sense of it all.

“Fortuna wasn’t too keen on the claws. Thought he was a hazard. He had nowhere to go and seemed pretty wrecked when I bumped into him, so I brought him here. Win-win situation.”

Lady tilted her head at Dante. “You just… took him in? How is that a win for you? I don’t recall you ever putting up with anyone, let alone a lost teenager you barely know.”

And damn, she was correct. Dante hated having anyone stay at his office. He was the type of guy to want to quickly deal with everyone and send them on their way. Client, friend, doesn’t matter. He liked having peace and quiet for himself. The less people were around him, the less they were in danger. But with Nero, it was different. He was different. And Lady (and Trish) seemed to have picked up on it.

“Unless…” Her eyes narrowed as she began again after Dante didn’t answer her question, insinuating there was another reason he took Nero in, but Dante cut her off before she could say any more.

“ _Well_ , he doesn’t piss me off or take every last penny I ever make from me, like you do, so I’d consider that a win. Plus, he takes the boring, run-of-the-mill jobs I can’t be bothered with.”

Lady kept giving Dante a judgemental look he didn’t like one bit. “So, wait. He works for you?”

“Yeah.”  
  
“Seriously.”

“Mhm.”

“That’s all?”

“Yep.” 

“Come on. Do you think I’m stupid?” Lady shook her head in disbelief.

Dante didn’t answer, he just glared at her. 

“What’s going on here? You couldn’t shut up about him for months, and now he’s coincidentally sleeping at your place.”

“I think _you_ should shut up, for months.” Dante really didn’t want to discuss his feelings with Lady, or anyone else for that matter, ever. And now was not a good time, considering Nero was right there on the couch and could possibly overhear everything. 

Lady thought about it for a second. She looked over to Nero again, still thinking. “You talked to Trish, right?” 

Dante sighed and nodded, recalling the conversation he had on the phone with Trish a week ago, regarding Nero. “Yeah. I’ve heard. Keep it down.”

“Does he know?” She motioned towards Nero, the two of them were now almost whispering to each other.

“No.” Dante looked away.

Lady couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Why not?”

“He doesn’t need to know.” Dante seemed uneasy about this topic of conversation, but Lady didn’t care.

“Don’t you think he _should_ know?”

“It’s irrelevant.”

“Are you insane!?” Lady whisper-shouted at him, getting angry at Dante’s ignorance.

Dante adjusted himself in his seat and leaned forward with his arms on the desk, getting closer to Lady so he could properly talk to her without waking Nero up. “Look. Lady. First of all, I’m telling you, nothing's _happening_ between us, alright? And second of all, I’m keeping my eye on him. Nobody would dare mess with him around me.” Lady wasn’t sure if she believed Dante or not, but she let him continue. “Like I said, it’s all fine. He’s safe with me, and that’s all he needs to know. You better keep your mouth shut. Got it?”

“You’re out of your mind.” Lady looked away and shook her head yet again.

“Why do you care? It’s none of your business. Stay out of it.”

“It’s definitely going to be my business if word gets out and people start spreading rumors. This could be damaging to your reputation and your work, and as soon as I lose a penny because of you two, it very much is my business. _Got it_?” She mimicked him, mockingly yet in a serious tone.

“There’s nothing for them to spread rumors about. For the love of god, stop making a big deal out of nothing. It’s fine.”

“People talk, Dante.”

“Well, let them. I couldn’t give less of a shit about any of that, Lady. If people need help with demons, they’ll call. If they don’t, they won’t. The rest is none of my concern.”

“Look. I’m not against him, and I don’t wanna stay in your way of pursuing him. He’s the whole package, I get it. But you gotta tell him everything. For his own good. He should know to be careful going out in case he runs into _them_ and loses his head, and he should know he’s your family. He should get to decide if he wants to get involved with you or not. He deserves that much.”

Dante groaned. “It’s a touchy subject, alright?”

She sighed. “Oh, boohoo. You gotta tell him. I don’t care how things develop, as long as you’re careful and he knows what he’s getting himself into, consensually.”

“Shut up about it and we won’t have a problem.” Dante shrugged it off as if it was nothing of importance, despite it being the sole thing weighing on his chest this whole time. The one thing keeping him from Nero. Their blood. 

“You better tell him, before I do it myself. And trust me, things will get ugly if he finds out from me.”

She noticed Dante was getting more and more irritated, so she exhaled loudly and stood up from the desk. Her voice returned to normal, as the topic was no longer something they had to be discrete about.

“Anyway.” She didn’t want to piss Dante off too much, otherwise he surely wouldn’t pay her back the debt she came to collect. “You know why I’m here.”

He did, and he didn’t like it. “Can’t you just let this one slide?” Dante already knew the answer. 

She shrugged and shook her head. “You let those artifacts get damaged, not me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He opened up the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a stack of bills he had prepared in advance. He slid it over the table to Lady. “Don’t go wasting it on something stupid.”  
  


Lady smirked. “It’s getting cold, I might just need a new jacket.” She took the money off the table and put it in her pocket. 

“I guess I’ll introduce myself another time.” She began picking up Kalina, and Nero was awoken by the sound of the rattling as the song he was listening to ended. He looked over to the desk and noticed the guest in the office he didn’t realise was there. He quickly sat up and took off his headphones, embarrassingly fixing his hair. 

“Or now,” Lady said to Dante as she lightly waved her hand at Nero. She smiled at him with a friendly nod of introduction. “You probably don’t remember me. I’m Lady.”

Nero walked over as she held out her hand to shake his. Just as he did when Trish did the same, he instinctively moved his demonic arm out of her sight and looked over to Dante for approval. Dante didn’t like seeing Nero hiding his arm around the office, he could tell Nero wasn’t very secure about having the arm at all. He hated seeing it happen, as he added a mental note of ‘help Nero accept himself’ to his list of things to do together. Dante nodded towards Nero with an assuring smile, and Nero finally obliged to the handshake. 

“Nero.”

“I remember you, great job taking down that old geezer.”

Nero smiled, scratching his neck at the compliment. He never knew how to react to those. He was more used to being bossed around and yelled at for doing everything wrong, somehow. The Order definitely didn’t treat him with the respect he deserved.

“Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without Dante. He did most of the work there, I just…cleaned up.”

Dante laughed in Lady’s direction. “Huh! Hear that?”

Lady waved a hand dismissively in front of Dante. “Please, Dante. Did you also destroy half the city in the process? You sure did!”

“Hey! What was I supposed to do, leave that enormous hell gate be and what, catch the fallen statue, too?” He shook his head in disbelief and extended his hand towards Lady, his palm open, waiting. “Just give me the damn thing.”

Lady obliged and gave him the envelope she brought with her. As Dante was looking over the paper inside containing all the information, she began to explain the job. Nero crossed his arms and listened carefully. “A swarm of demons has been spotted running around two towns over. They’re described as massive, long demonic leeches. There are reports of them leaping at people, biting them, and sucking out their blood until there’s nothing left but an empty shell of a human body. I’m gonna need you to take care of that whole mess. Here’s the thing, the suckers are said to be poisonous. If the bite alone doesn’t kill the victims, the poison that infects them definitely does. Apparently, they’re also very fast, and the number of deaths has been going up all day. SO!” She put her hands together and adjusted her grasp on Kalina Ann. “I’m quite enjoying life right now, so this one’s on you, Dante. You’ll probably be fine, I can’t afford that risk.”

Dante glared back at her. “ _Probably_.”

She smiled devilishly at Dante, and then over at Nero. “Don’t worry! You’ll be fine. You’re demons, you’re immune to practically everything, and you heal in no time. Besides, you’ve got Nero now to cover your back and take care of you, right?”

Nero, embarrassed at the comment, nervously laughed in response. “Right...” 

‘Me? Take care of Dante? On what planet,’ he thought.

Dante noticed the reaction from Nero. The thought of Nero taking care of him was actually the best thing that could possibly happen to him. Nero bandaging his wounds and making sure he was okay? Sign him up. 

“Alright,” Dante said and stood up from the desk, turning around and grabbing Rebellion, which was leaning against the wall behind him. 

“Great! You two take care of each other.” She winked at Nero, whose cheeks were still rosy, and headed towards the door with a wave. “See you around, boys!”

Dante turned back around to face Nero, who was looking away, trying to hide the red tint on his face. “Grab your stuff, we’re going.”

* * *

It wasn’t a long drive until they reached their destination. They could tell they were in the right place. Even with the roof of the convertible up, the stench of the demons was unavoidable, getting stronger as they approached the area mentioned in Lady’s report.

Dante pulled over on a sidewalk, and they collected their gear. They followed the unpleasant scent down an alleyway and quickly reached the building the leeches were last spotted at.

The two of them split up, but just enough so Dante could still keep an eye on the younger hunter. Even though Dante acted casual and carefree about their jobs, he was always sure to keep Nero in sight from the corner of his eye. He knew Nero was more than capable of taking care of himself, yet he was growing more and more protective of him the more time they spent around each other. It was almost as if his demonic side wanted to make sure nobody dared to hurt Nero or even get too close to him. Nero was his, and nobody was to lay a hand on him, not on his watch. It didn’t help that Trish recently informed Dante that a group of demons they were familiar with was commissioned to ‘ _take Nero out for good_ ’. Dante couldn’t afford to let anything happen to Nero, no matter what. He had to be twice as protective as he already was.

Although the leeches really were bolting around the whole place, the duo was doing great at taking them out, each having killed quite a good number of them. They liked to shout out whenever they took one down. Nero was just down the corridor from Dante, grabbing a leech mid-air with his demonic claws, slamming it into the floor, and slicing it up with Red Queen in his left hand. 

“And another one down. Not that it’s a competition Dante, but you’re falling behind. What’s the matter, don’t tell me you’re still ‘ _too tired_ ’ to keep up?” He teased Dante, who was running Rebellion through another leech, splitting it in half right down the middle. 

Dante scoffed at that remark. “You know, I just might be. You wanna take over from here?” 

“You wish.” 

As they were messing around throwing jabs at each other, looking out for any more suckers to jump at them, a leech Nero seemed to miss while conversing with Dante, leaped towards him from behind, aiming directly for his neck.

Dante noticed the motion from his peripheral vision. His eyes quickly shifted to spot what was going on. His heart dropped to his stomach. Nero was in danger. Everything in him was suddenly alert. 

“Behind you!” 

He quickly put his sword away, replacing it with his dual pistols, hoping to take it out before it reached Nero, but he was too late. If he were to shoot then, he could have shot Nero, and he couldn’t take that risk. There was nothing he could do to prevent it anymore.

Nero quickly turned around, his neck met directly with the million tiny teeth of a thick, long leech, who swiftly wrapped itself tightly around Nero’s throat and started sucking out his blood before he managed to grab the thing with both arms in an attempt to free himself of it. “Get the fuck off of me!”

He was pulling on it, but the sucker was damn strong, it wasn’t letting go. He yelled, groaning in pain as he felt the teeth cutting into his neck deeper, blood leaving his veins. 

Dante was quickly flooded with panic, remembering exactly what Lady had said about the leeches. He let Nero get hurt, this could be fatal if he didn’t do something about it fast. His heart was racing as he bolted down the hallway towards Nero.

Just as he was about to reach him, Nero got a proper hold of the demon’s mouth and grabbed it firmly. It kept sucking on his neck aggressively, pulling on his skin, choking him in the process.

“At least take me out to dinner first!” he yelled as he finally ripped it off of his neck, throwing it across from him towards the nearest wall. Dante quickly reacted and shot at the demon continuously until there was nothing left of it but dissolving sparks in the air. He then turned his attention back on the younger hunter.

Nero groaned in annoyance.

‘Fucking great,’ he thought to himself. 

The pain wasn’t overwhelming, it was nothing he couldn’t handle. What pissed him off was the fact that he had just embarrassed himself in front of the very same person he was trying to impress this whole time. He sighed angrily, his human hand rubbing at his wound impatiently, waiting for it to heal up. 

Dante walked up close to Nero, but Nero avoided eye contact. 

“Let me see,” Dante said, his voice low and quiet. He tilted his head to get a better look at the wound the demon leech had left. 

Nero hesitated. He could tell Dante wasn’t exactly happy with what had happened. Their eyes finally met, and the look on Dante’s face made Nero’s heart skip a beat.

Dante’s eyes were… not like his usual self. His facial expression was softer than ever, and he wasn’t trying to hide it behind cockiness like he usually would, at all. 

‘Is he… genuinely worried about me? Shit. Of course he is, I’m a fucking idiot. I was reckless and clumsy,’ Nero thought to himself, beating himself up over such a rookie mistake. What hurt him the most wasn’t the wound, it was burdening Dante with his error. 

“I’m fine,” he finally responded.

Dante didn’t have to repeat himself, Nero lifted the hand covering his already-healing wound and Dante leaned in, taking a closer look. Dante raised his left arm and gently touched around the affected area, making sure it was healing and nothing was left behind from the bite.

Dante didn’t say anything, he leaned back away from the younger hunter. 

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Nero assured Dante. And it was true, he felt no pain, the wound had begun to heal quickly. If anything, he was disappointed with himself. Especially due to the fact that not too many days ago, Dante was teaching him about these exact types of situations; knowing how to quickly react to incoming threats. The one thing he could have impressed Dante with, he failed at miserably.

Nero softly smiled at Dante, who appeared a lot less tense¸, but still concerned. “Seriously, I’m okay.”

Dante replied with a single nod. “Alright.”

He turned to scan the room. “We should finish what we started here. You good to keep going?”

“I’m still ahead of you in kills, if anything, I should be asking you the same thing.”

Dante smiled. “Stay alert.”

“I got it…” 

The two of them took another hour to clear out the area until they were positive they had taken out every last one of the demonic suckers.

Dante returned his sword in its place on his back, dusting off his hands. “Alright. that should be it.”

Nero did the same, returning Blue Rose to its holster on his thigh. “Seems so.”

The two of them made their way back towards Dante’s car. 

Dante glanced over at Nero again, making sure he was healed and the leach didn’t do any serious damage.

Nero felt eyes on him. “Are you gonna stop worrying about this stupid demon hickey, or are you just checking me out?”

Dante laughed at the snarky remark. “Can’t help myself, you’re too damn pretty.” While he was just teasing, he absolutely meant it. Nero was attractive in every possible way, and he couldn’t deny that his eyes often ended up glued to the younger hunter.

Nero shook his head at Dante’s sarcastic comment. 

“You’re lucky you don’t bruise.”

Nero raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Imagine. Someone walks in the office, sees you with a giant hickey on your neck while you’re staying over at my place. People might talk.” Dante couldn’t hide the massive grin on his face as Nero flushed red from the embarrassment of what Dante was hinting at. 

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Nero looked away and kept walking faster to escape the awkward situation. 

Dante laughed after him. “I’m kidding! You called it a hickey, not me.“

“And I already regret it.” 

The two of them got to the car and headed back to the office. 

For the rest of the drive back home, Dante couldn’t shake a certain line of Nero’s from his mind.

 _‘Take me out to dinner first_ , you say?’

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners (in this case, Capcom owns all of the characters and settings, I do not claim to own them at all). The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story (me). The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended. I do not, and never will, profit off of this. I'm just a genuine fan.
> 
> I ship Dante and Nero as fictional characters, I [obviously] don't condone actual incest in any way, shape or form. It's fiction, after all. Just putting it out there in advance. Thank you very much for understanding.


End file.
